Personalized network searching

ABSTRACT

Personalized network searching, in which a search query is received from a user, and a request is received to personalize a search result. Responsive to the search query and the request to personalize the search result, a personalized search result is generated by searching a personalized search object. Responsive to the search query, a general search result is generated by searching the general search object. The personalized search result and the general search result are provided to a client device, an advertisement is selected based at least in part upon the personalized search object, and the advertisement, the personalized search result, and the general search result are displayed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/186,168, filed Nov. 9, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,369,792 which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/854,208, filed Dec.26, 2017, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/492,513, filed Apr. 20, 2017, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/516,019, filed Oct. 16, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No.9,679,067 which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/074,872, filed Nov. 8, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,886,626, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/442,386, filed Apr.9, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,612,415, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/172,961, filed Jun. 30, 2011, ow U.S.Pat. No. 8,166,017, which is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/099,583, filed Apr. 8, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,015,170,which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/726,410,filed Dec. 3, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,523,096, all of which areincorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to methods and systems fornetwork searching. The present invention relates particularly to methodsand systems for personalized network searching.

BACKGROUND

In general, most page visits on the World Wide Web are revisits; inother words, the user is returning to a web page previously visited. Assearch engines have improved, many users have turned to search enginesfor navigating to often-visited sites, rather than typing in uniformresource locators (URLs) or using browser bookmarks. A search engineperforms the search based on a conventional search method. For example,one known method, described in an article entitled “The Anatomy of aLarge-Scale Hypertextual Search Engine,” by Sergey Brin and LawrencePage, assigns a degree of importance to a document, such as a web page,based on the link structure of the web page. As these navigationalqueries become increasingly common, users are able to learn whichqueries will take them to their favorite sites. Bookmarks, however, canprovide a benefit to the user. For example, a common use of bookmarks isfor navigation to sites that search engines (such as the Google™ SearchEngine) do not rank highly or that are otherwise hard to find via asearch query.

Accordingly, bookmarks that the user continues to use are a valuableresource for the user. An Internet user often has difficulty propagatingbookmarks between the various machines on which the user depends. Forexample, many users have a computer at work and at home. Often, thebookmarks relied on in the work setting are useful at home as well. Inmost cases, however, the user must manually synchronize the bookmarklists of the two machines. In addition, conventional methods oforganizing bookmarks tend to be limited at best, making it difficult forthe user to find a favorite site.

Some users have attempted to solve the propagation problem by using acommercial product that allows the user to store bookmarks on a serveron the web, such as BlinkPro (Blink.com, Inc.; www.blinkpro.com) orBookmarkTracker (BookmarkTracker.com, Inc.; www.bookmarktracker.com).Such products allow the bookmarks to be managed and utilized from abrowser application. In some cases, the user can also automaticallysynchronize each of the user's computers to the common list storedon-line. While storing the bookmarks on-line addresses the propagationproblem, such systems fail td address the organizational problemsinherent in conventional bookmarks.

Various other conventional bookmark-related software products providethe user with functionality to facilitate the use of bookmarks. Forexample, systems and methods for automatically organizing bookmarks on aclient machine, searching previously-stored bookmarks by keyword, andintegrating the back, history, and bookmark functions to improve theuser's ability to visit previously visited sites have been described(see, e.g., Integrating Back, History and Bookmarks in Web Browsers,Kaasten, S. and Greenberg, S. (2001), In Extended Abstracts of the ACMConference of Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI'01), 379-380, ACMPress). These tools, however, do not effectively leverage the user'spreferences to provide personalized search results.

Thus, a need exists to provide an improved system and method forproviding personalized network searching.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods forpersonalized network searching. In one embodiment, a search engineimplements a method comprising receiving a search query, determining apersonalized result by searching a personalized search object using thesearch query, determining a general result by searching a general searchobject using the search query, and providing a search result for thesearch query based at least in part on the personalized result and thegeneral result. An embodiment of the present invention may utilizeratings, annotations, history of use, or other data associated with thepreviously-identified uniform resource locator to locate and sortresults.

Further details and advantages of embodiments of the present inventionare set forth below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the presentinvention are better understood when the following Detailed Descriptionis read with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary environment in whichone embodiment of the present invention may operate;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart, illustrating a method for storing bookmarks,ratings, and annotations in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of performing a networksearch in one embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of implicitly rating a page‘One embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present invention comprise methods and systems forpersonalized network searching. In one embodiment, a search enginecombines search results obtained from a global index or global indexeswith those retrieved from a list of a user's favorite sites to produce acombined search result set. The combined result set may be sorted,marked, or otherwise used based on the user's preferences. Such anembodiment may provide the user with a mechanism to perform searches andvisit favorite sites from one interface.

Referring now to the drawings in which like numerals indicate likeelements throughout the several figures, FIG. 1 is a block diagramillustrating an exemplary environment for implementation of anembodiment of the present invention. The system 100 shown in FIG. 1includes multiple client devices 102 a-n in communication with a serverdevice 104 over a network 106. The network 106 shown includes theInternet. In other embodiments, other networks, such as an intranet maybe used. Moreover, methods according to the present invention mayoperate within a single computer.

The client devices 102 a-n shown each includes a computer-readablemedium, such as a random access memory (RAM) 108 coupled to a processor110. The processor 110 executes computer-executable program instructionsstored in memory 108. Such processors may include a microprocessor, anASIC, and state machines. Such processors include, or may be incommunication with, media, for example computer-readable media, whichstores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause theprocessor to perform the steps described herein. Embodiments ofcomputer-readable media include, but are not limited to, an electronic,optical, magnetic, or other storage or transmission device capable ofproviding a processor, such as the processor 110 of client 102 a, withcomputer-readable instructions. Other examples of suitable mediainclude, but are not limited to, a floppy disk, CD-ROM, DVD, magneticdisk, memory chip, ROM, RAM, an ASIC, a configured processor, alloptical media, all magnetic tape or other magnetic media, or any othermedium from which a computer processor can read instructions. Also,various other forms of computer-readable media may transmit or carryinstructions to a computer, including a router, private or publicnetwork, or other transmission device or channel, both wired andwireless. The instructions may comprise code from anycomputer-programming language, including, for example, C, C++, C#,Visual Basic, Java, Python, Perl, and JavaScript.

Client devices 102 a-n may also include a number of external or internaldevices such as a mouse, a CD-ROM, DVD, a keyboard, a display, or otherinput or output devices. Examples of client devices 102 a-n are personalcomputers, digital assistants, personal digital assistants, cellularphones, mobile phones, smart phones, pagers, digital tablets, laptopcomputers, Internet appliances, and other processor-based devices. Ingeneral, a client device 102 a may be any type of processor-basedplatform that is connected to a network 106 and that interacts with oneor more application programs. Client devices 102 a-n may operate on anyoperating system capable of supporting a browser or browser-enabledapplication, such as Microsoft® Windows® or Linux. The client devices102 a-n shown include, for example, personal computers executing abrowser application program such as Microsoft Corporation's InternetExplorer™, Netscape Communication Corporation's Netscape Navigator™, andApple Computer, Inc.'s Safari™.

Through the client devices 102 a-n, users 112 a-n can communicate overthe network 106 with each other and with other systems and devicescoupled to the network 106. As shown in FIG. 1 , a server device 104 isalso coupled to the network 106. In the embodiment shown, a user 112 a-ngenerates a search query 114 at a client device 102 a. The client device102 a transmits the query 114 the server device 104 via the network 106.For example, a user 112 a types a textual search query into a queryfield of a web page of a search engine interface or other client-sidesoftware displayed on the client device 102 a, which is then transmittedvia the network 106 to the server device 104. In the embodiment shown, auser 112 a inputs a search query 114 at a client device 102 a, whichtransmits an associated search query signal 130 reflecting the searchquery 114 to the server device 104. The search query 114 may betransmitted directly to the server device 104 as shown. In anotherembodiment, the query signal 130 may instead be sent to a proxy server(not shown), which then transmits the query signal 130 to server device104. Other configurations are possible.

The server device 104 shown includes a server executing a search engineapplication program, such as the Google™ search engine. Similar to theclient devices 102 a-n, the server device 104 shown includes a processor116 coupled to a computer-readable memory 118. Server device 104,depicted as a single computer system, may be implemented as a network ofcomputer processors. Examples of a server device 104 are servers,mainframe computers, networked computers, a processor-based device, andsimilar types of systems and devices. Client processor 110 and theserver processor 116 can be any of a number of computer processors, suchas processors from Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif. and MotorolaCorporation of Schaumburg, Ill.

Memory 118 contains the search engine application program, also known asa search engine 120. The search engine 120 locates relevant informationin response to a search query 114 from a user 112 a-n.

In the embodiment shown, the server device 104, or related device, haspreviously performed a crawl of the network 106 to locate articles, suchas web pages, stored at other devices or systems connected to thenetwork 106, and indexed the articles in memory 118 or on another datastorage device. Articles include, for example, web pages of variousformats, such as HTML, XML, XHTML, Portable Document Format (PDF) files,and word processor, database, and application program document files,audio, video, or any other documents or information of any typewhatsoever made available on a network (such as the Internet), apersonal computer, or other computing or storage means. The embodimentsdescribed herein are described generally in relation to HTML files ordocuments, but embodiments may operate on any type of article, includingany type of image.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the search engine 120 alsosearches a user's list of favorite sites, which personalizes the search.For example, a user's list of favorite sites may be saved as a list ofbookmarks. Bookmarks are objects that include a uniform resource locator(URL) identified by a user. A bookmark may be referred to by differentterms in different applications. For example, Microsoft® products oftenrefer to bookmarks as “favorites.” Similar to the client devices 102 a-nand the server device 104, the server device 122 shown includes aprocessor 124 coupled to a computer-readable memory 126. As with serverdevice 104, server device 122, depicted as a single computer system, maybe implemented as a network of computer processors or may beincorporated into the server device 104. Examples of a server device 122are servers, mainframe computers, networked computers, a processor-baseddevice, and similar types of systems and devices.

Memory 126 contains the bookmark manager application program, also knownas a bookmark manager 128. In the embodiment shown, the bookmark manager128 is a C++ program, however, the bookmark manager 128 may beconstructed from various other programming languages as well.

Referring still to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 , the bookmark manager128 comprises an interface so that a user 112 a may manage bookmarks onthe server. For example, in one embodiment, the bookmark manager 128provides a browser-based application that allows the user to create,modify, delete, and save bookmarks on the network. The application maycomprise, for example, HTML and JavaScript, an ActiveX component, or aJava applet. The bookmarks are saved in the bookmark database 140. In anembodiment of the present invention, the bookmark manager 128 alsoprovides the data stored in the bookmark database 140 to the searchengine 120.

When the search engine 120 performs a search in response to the querysearch query signal 130, the search engine 120 searches previouslyindexed articles. The search engine 120 also creates a bookmark request136, corresponding to user 112 a. The bookmark manager 128 responds bysending one or more bookmarks 138 to the search engine 120. The searchengine 120 utilizes the bookmarks, 138 to search sites previouslyidentified by the user 112 a. The search engine then merges the resultsof the two searches to provide a result set 134 to the client 102 a.

It should be noted that the present invention may comprise systemshaving different architecture than that which is shown in FIG. 1 . Forexample, in some systems according to the present invention, serverdevice 104 and server device 122 may comprise a single physical orlogical server. The system 100 shown in FIG. 1 is merely exemplary, andis used to explain the exemplary methods shown in FIGS. 2 through 4 .

In embodiments of the present invention, a user 112 a can track theirconventional browser bookmarks using server-side storage. Thesebookmarks can then be made available to the user on all the variouscomputers the user uses and can be integrated with browser bookmarks andwith the browser (e.g., via a toolbar). For example, a user's set ofbookmarks can be primed on a server by having the user POST theirbookmarks file to the server, and the user can be permitted to downloadthe bookmarks as a bookmarks file or other related representation.Alternatively, client-side software may implicitly manage theserver-side storage. In one embodiment, the bookmarks may comprise acontinuous user rating, e.g., 0.0-1.0, rather than just a discretebookmarked-or-not bit. In another embodiment, a user can integrateper-page annotations into their data regarding bookmarks or favorites.In yet another embodiment, a user can store multiple user personalities(e.g., previously defined sets of bookmarks) and can receiverecommendations based on the set of bookmarks saved by users withsimilar tastes as derived by their bookmarks or other stored ormonitored preferences.

Various methods may be implemented in the environment shown in FIG. 1and other environments according to the present invention. For examplein one embodiment, a user 112 a enters a search query 114, which aclient 102 a transmits as a query signal 130 to a server device 104 overa network 106. The server device 104 executes a search engine 120. Thesearch engine 120 receives the query signal 130. The search engine 120determines a personalized result by searching a personalized searchobject using the search query.

Examples of a personalized search object include, for example, a list ofbookmarks or favorites and the history list of a browser. The searchengine 120 also determines a general search result by searching ageneral search object. The general search object may comprise, forexample, an index of articles, such as, for example, those associatedwith a conventional search engine. The search engine 120 provides asearch result to the user based at least in part on the personalizedresult and the general result. In another embodiment, the search engine120 provides a search result to the user based solely on thepersonalized result.

The search engine 120 may generate the search result by combining thegeneral results and the personalized results. The search engine mayinstead provide separate lists: one containing the general search resultand a second containing the personalized search result. The searchengine 120 transmits the search result as a result set 134 to the client102 a.

In one embodiment, the search engine 120 returns the list sorted as in aconventional search engine and with the personalized search resultsindicated in some way, such as, for example, highlighted or shown with asymbol beside the personalized search result. In another embodiment, thesearch engine sorts the combined results list based at least in part ona rating that the user 112 a has associated with the uniform resourcelocator.

The results may be sorted in a number of ways. For example, in oneembodiment, the combined results list is sorted based at least in parton an annotation or rating that has been associated with the user 112 aand the uniform resource locator. The results may instead or further besorted based on whether the result in the combined result listoriginated in the global results list or in the personalized searchresult. For example, the user 112 a may wish to see their personalizedresults displayed at the top. The results may be instead or furthersorted based on a rating of a page provided by or created for the user112 a. In one embodiment, rather than changing the sorting order of thepages provided in a result set, the search engine 120 marks results thatoriginated in the user's personalized search results. A fuzzy algorithmmay also be employed to sort the results. For example, the sorting ofthe combined results list may only slightly favor the personalizedsearch result. In another embodiment, the results list is sorted bymeasures indicating user preferences. For example, if many of the user'sbookmarks are computer-related, computer-related results are sortedcloser to the top of the result set 134 than non-computer relatedresults. Other operations may also be performed on the results based atleast in part on user-specific information. For example, the results maybe interleaved, merged where necessary or desired, presented withannotations, or presented in other ways that provide useful informationto the user 112 a.

An embodiment of the present invention may comprise features tofacilitate community building. For example, in one embodiment, theuniform resource locator comprises a community bookmark. The bookmarkmay be shared by a set of users or may be transmitted by one user andreceived by another. The second user can then perform personalizedqueries that are based, at least in part, on the shared bookmark. Inanother embodiment, a cluster of users is identified based at least inpart on the bookmarks and annotations that they have previouslyidentified.

A user 112 a may specify bookmarks explicitly. In one embodiment, thebookmarks are implicitly identified based on a measure of the behaviorof the user. For example, in one embodiment, the implicit measurecomprises the linger time. In other words, if a user spends a great dealof time on a site, it is identified as a bookmark for later personalizedsearches. In other embodiments, the implicit measure may comprise atleast one of the quantity of repeat visits to the site or the quantityof click-throughs on the site. In one embodiment, temporal decay ofratings may be utilized so that unused or rarely used bookmarks, whetherexplicitly marked or implicitly marked, become unmarked over time. Otherimplicit measures include printing the page, saving the page, and theamount of scrolling performed on the page.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the user associates a textstring with a uniform resource locator (URL). The text string maycomprise, for example, a search query, a URL-format text string, or ashort-hand indicator of the URL. The client 102 a receives thepersonalized association data associating the text string with the URLand stores the personalized association data in a personalized searchobject. The client 102 a subsequently receives an input signalcomprising the search string, determines the URL associated with thetext string and displays an article associated with the URL. The articlemay be received from a global network element, such as a web server.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for storing bookmarks,ratings, and annotations in an embodiment of the present invention. Inthe embodiment shown, a user 112 a navigates to a site by typing in aURL or other means. The user 112 a determines that the site is usefuland that the user 112 a will revisit the site. Accordingly, the user 112a bookmarks the site using a bookmark manager 128. The user 112 a mayaccess the bookmark manager 128 in various ways. For example, in oneembodiment, the user 112 a accesses a client-side application via abuilt-in user-interface element or one available via a toolbar or otheravailable plug-in in a browser executing on the client 102 a. The buttoncauses a popup window to be displayed in which the user enters anannotation and rating. When the user clicks a submit button, theinformation is submitted to the bookmark manager 128 for storage as abookmark in the bookmark database 140.

In the embodiment shown, the bookmark manager 128 first receives a validuser identifier (ID) 202 from the client 102 a. Users who desiresynchronization across different browsers/computers or other types ofpersonalization need to identify themselves to the bookmark manager 128to some extent so that the bookmark manager 128 has a primary key withwhich to store a user's bookmarks. The bookmark manager 128 can performthe identification and authentication in numerous ways. For example, inone embodiment, the IP address is tracked throughout a session. Inanother embodiment, the authentication is done via a user managersystem. In another embodiment, a cookie on the client 102 a may includeuser-identifying information, which is supplied to the bookmark manager128 by the client 102 a.

The bookmark manager 128 then receives the URL for the site that theuser identifies 204. The bookmark manager 128 stores the URL, itsrating(s), and its annotations) in the bookmark database 140 for laterretrieval 206. It is likely that a user already has a set of bookmarks(or several sets of bookmarks) that they would like to make availablefor their searches. Accordingly, in one embodiment, the bookmark manager128 includes a mechanism for migrating that data to the bookmarkdatabase 140. The hierarchy of bookmarks can be used as implicitannotations on the named URLs and can at least be preserved whensynchronizing the bookmarks among browsers. In another embodiment, thefull text of an article when it was last visited serves as an annotationof the URL. In still another embodiment, as bookmarks are edited on asupported browser's native interface, the corresponding edits are madeto the server-side bookmarks.

In one embodiment, the bookmark manager 128 provides a server-sidemanagement tool via an HTML interface (which, again may mirror changesinto a supported browser's native bookmarks). Synchronization of clientand server-side bookmarks may increase adoption of the bookmark manager128 if the user can at least manually synchronize server-side bookmarksinto client-side browser bookmark lists. In one embodiment, themanagement tool also displays the bookmark rating for a given page andallows the user 112 a to manipulate the rating and/or an annotationassociated with the page. In another embodiment, bookmark manager 128supports listing recently rated pages to facilitate returning torecently bookmarked pages, thus enabling a work-list like review of asurfing session.

Referring still to FIG. 2 , the bookmark manager 128 also receives 208and stores 210 an annotation of the URL in the bookmark database 140.The annotation is a remark that the user provides regarding the URL. Theannotation may simply be a text string stored in a database 140 andassociated with the URL. The annotation may be instead stored in astandardized format, see, e.g., Annotea: An Open RDF Infrastructure forShared Web Annotations, J. Kahan, M. Koivunen, E. Prud'Hommeaux, and R.Swick (2001), In Proceedings of WWW10, May 1-5, 2001 Hong Kong.

In the embodiment shown, the bookmark manager 128 also receives 212 andstores 214 the rating of the site provided by the user 112 a in thebookmark database 140. For example, in one embodiment, the user 112 aclicks a rating button. In response, the user 112 a is presented with aseries of ten radio buttons labeled 0.0 through 1.0. The user selectsone of the radio buttons and clicks submit. The bookmark manager 128receives the rating and the URL and saves the two data values in thebookmark database 140. FIG. 2 is merely exemplary. In other embodimentsthe user may provide more or less information related to a site to thebookmark manager 128.

Although in the embodiment shown, the reception and storage of the URL,annotation, and rating are shown as linear steps, they may be performedin other ways as well. For example, the bookmark manager may receive theURL, annotation, and rating together and perform one step to store themin the bookmark database 140.

The data stored in the bookmark database 140 may be updated fairlyfrequently as pages are bookmarked (or the bookmark is toggled, or arating slider is changed).

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of performing a networksearch in one embodiment of the present invention. Embodiments of thepresent invention may combine conventional network searches with, forexample, personalized searches utilizing information provided by theuser previously or in conjunction with the submission of the search. Inthe embodiment shown in FIG. 3 , the search engine 120 receives a querysignal 130 from a client (102 a) 302. The search engine 120 responds tothe query signal 130 by performing a search. In the embodiment shown,the search comprises three sub-processes, which may be run in parallel.These three processes comprise: searching global indices 304, searchingthe URLs stored as bookmarks 306, and searching annotations 308. Otherembodiments may employ a fewer or greater number of sub-processes: Forexample, in one embodiment, the URLs present in the navigation historyof the browser are searched.

Conventional search engines search global search objects, such as globalsearch indices. Embodiments of the present invention are also capable ofsearching personal search objects, such as bookmarks, annotations,ratings, and other objects. In one embodiment, such searching comprisesreading a list of URLs from the bookmark database 140, and for eachpage, searching the various parts of the page using the search query 114submitted by the user 112 a. In another embodiment, an agent operatingon the client 102 a searches a personal search object stored on theclient 102 a or in a repository accessible to the client 102 a via thenetwork 106.

Searching annotations comprises searching the user-entered annotationsusing the search query 114 submitted by the user 112 a. For example, auser 112 a may enter the term “boat” as an annotation for a pagecomprising marine supplies. If the users 112 a enters “boat” as part ofthe search query 114 utilized by the search engine 120, the page withthe “boat” annotation will be returned by the search annotationscomponent. Another embodiment of the present invention searches not onlythe pages that the user has bookmarked or annotated, but also pagessimilar to the pages that the user has bookmarked or pages with similarannotations.

Each of the sub-processes 304, 306, and 308 shown may generate aseparate result set in the embodiment shown. In other embodiments, thesub-processes 304, 306, and 308 may be combined and/or configured toprovide a combined result set automatically. The result sets may overlapto some degree. In the embodiment shown, the search engine 120 mergesthe search results into one list 310. The search engine 120 then ranksthe pages 312. Various methods may be utilized to rank the pages. Forexample, the search engine 120 may rank results returned via annotationbased on their user-based ratings, if any, then per the standard rankingalgorithm. Several examples are set out below. The search engine 120then provides a sorted result set 134 to the user 112 a requesting thesearch 314.

In another embodiment, the user supplies an annotation that isassociated with a URL. The annotation is stored on a per-user basis tosupplement the search results and to further improve scoring. Otherusers who share similar interests with the user who provided theannotation may use the annotation.

Embodiments of the present invention may make further use of theannotation. For example, in one embodiment, the search engine 120searches for the keywords provided in a search query 114 inuser-supplied annotations, e.g., treating those annotations asuser-specific anchor text that refer to the annotated URL. The resultset generated by a search engine in one such embodiment reflects theunion of the global index and the results from the annotation keywordsearch.

Embodiments may also utilize other data, such as user ratings todetermine the ranking of the results, to mark the results, or for otherpurposes. For example, in one embodiment, the page rankings that thesearch engine 120 provides are not affected by the user-supplied ratingsfor each page, but an indicator, such as an asterisk or other smallimage, identifies specific results that are rated based on ratings datastored in the bookmark database 140.

Embodiments of the present invention may combine the results of severaltypes of results, or may present the results separately. For example, inone embodiment, a user 112 a submits a search query 114. The searchengine 120 searches a global search object and presents the results inone list. The search engine 120 also searches a personal search objectand presents the results of the search in a second list.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the search engine 120also uses a user-applied rating to rank the pages. For example, a user112 a applies a rating (e.g., between 0.0 and 10.0) to each of thebookmarks stored in the bookmark database 140. The search engine 120utilizes the user-applied rating in determining where in the result set134 a particular article should be displayed. For, example, a rating of0.5 might represent indifference, and lower ratings would penalize aresult while higher ratings would make it score higher. In yet anotherembodiment, the search engine 120 more highly scores unrated pages thatare similar to the content of highly rated URLs. In one embodiment, inwhich a large set of diverse user ratings and annotations have beenstored, the search engine 120 may provide additional related featuressuch as page suggestions based on similar users' ratings, e.g., viasimple clustering approaches.

The term or alternate URL associated with the primary URL is a distincttoken in the personalized search that indicates a desire of the user notto search for the term or navigate to the alternate URL, as would be thecase in a conventional browser application, but instead to immediatelygo directly to a specific page that is associated with the term oralternate URL for the user 112 a.

In one embodiment, a user 112 a associates a specific term or alternateURL with a primary URL, such as the URL associated with apreviously-stored bookmark in the bookmark database 140. For example,the user 112 a may enter a term in one text box and a URL in anothertext box and then click a button to associate the two. The associationis then stored in a computer-readable medium on the client machine 102 aor in a computer-readable medium accessible by a server 104, such as inthe bookmark database 140. The term or alternate URL becomes a“speed-dial” navigation link to the URL. In one embodiment, the user 112a enters the term in a query search box and clicks a link or control,such as a standard search link or button, and, rather than performing asearch for the term using a search engine, the browser orbrowser-enabled application retrieves the URL previously associated withthe term and immediately jumps to the site associated with the URL. Inanother embodiment, a keyboard binding causes the browser to jump to thesite associated with the URL. In either case, the command by the user112 a causes a behavior to occur that is personalized to the user asopposed to the conventional query behavior common to all users of thesearch engine. In other words, no search is performed; the browsersimply navigates to the URL associated with the term in lieu ofperforming the search.

In yet another embodiment, the user 112 a enters the alternate URL inthe address field of the browser and clicks the “go” control orotherwise causes the browser to evaluate the alternate URL. Rather thannavigating to the URL, the browser first searches for the alternate URLin the list of URL's associated with bookmarks. If the alternate URL isfound, the browser navigates directly to the primary URL that isassociated with the alternate URL.

For example, in one embodiment, a user 112 a associates the term “home”with the user's corporate intranet page. The user 112 a enters the term“home” in a text box and the URL for the corporate intranet page inanother text box and clicks a control to associate the two.Alternatively, the user clicks a control during display of the corporateintranet page that provides the user 112 a with an opportunity toassociate the term and the page. Subsequently, the user 112 a enters theterm “home” in a search field and clicks the search control. Since theterm “home” has been associated with the corporate intranet homepage,the browser immediately navigates to the user's corporate intranethomepage rather than executing a search for the term “home.” The user112 a may want to select terms or phrases for association that areunlikely to be used in standard searches. For example, the user 112 amay use a single number (e.g., “1”) to associate with a URL.

In another embodiment, the user 112 a associates the alternate URL“www.myhome.com” with the actual or primary URL for the user's 112 apersonal homepage. When the user 112 a enters the URL “www.myhome.com”in the address line of the browser executing on the client 102 a, thebrowser locates the association between the alternate and primary URL'sand navigates to the page identified by the primary URL, the user'spersonal home page.

An embodiment of the present invention may provide various userinterfaces. For example, in one embodiment, two distinct user interfacesare provided: one for novice users and one for advanced users. Thenovice interface may simply give visual feedback about whether a page isbookmarked or not and permits the user to toggle that state with asimple click. The richer, advanced-user interface may utilize a slidercontrol reflecting a rating for the current page and a personality-mode(e.g., work/home/hobby) drop-down box that switches among differentrating sets. Another embodiment includes an intermediate-level interfacethat includes a bookmark (vote positive) and a booknegate (votenegative) button (not unlike the voting buttons as part of the advancedfeatures of some search toolbars, such as the Google Toolbar).

A user interface according the present invention may also include apersonalized result page that includes a visual indication of a resultthat was reordered due to personalization. In one embodiment of thepresent invention, the user interface includes a means for toggling thepersonalization of results. For example, in one embodiment, the userclicks a button on the HTML interface to turn on personalization. Ifpersonalization is active, the user may click a button disablingpersonalization. Such a feature addresses the need to depersonalizeresults before sharing a query result links with other users (e.g., viaemail).

One embodiment of the present invention supports applying bookmarksdirectly via a results page. For more advanced users, bookmark manager128 may support a “Rank these results” link that lets advanced usersselect a rating (perhaps using radio buttons) for each result on a givenpage. Because of privacy concerns, bookmark manager 128 may disallowaccess to “View bookmarks” to not-logged-in users; nevertheless, searchresults may be appropriately personalized based on just the cookie ofnot-logged-in users.

Embodiments of the present invention implement various measures to helpencourage user adoption. For example, although not. all users may bewilling to expend the effort to provide ratings, an embodiment of thepresent invention provides noticeable benefits for relatively low efforton the part of the user. In addition, by incorporating bookmarksynchronization, an embodiment of the present invention helps driveadoption.

Embodiments of the present invention may also implement network andcommunity features to foster adoption of the service. For example, asdescribed above, an embodiment of the present invention may utilizelike-user recommendations to locate and rank results. One embodiment ofthe present invention implements user groups and friend-lists whereby auser can choose to expose a bookmark list to friends or the public atlarge. In another embodiment, a user has the ability to transparentlyoverlay a weighted set of bookmarks onto their own set of bookmarks.

An organization implementing an embodiment of the present invention mayutilize partnerships to encourage adoption of the service. For example,a service provider may encourage partner sites to display a “bookmarkthis page!” snippet on their homepages and other content pages. For thepartner, an embodiment of the present invention provides a means to askusers to opt-in to making it especially easy to get at their site via asearch. And for users it's a nice reminder to mark the page or add anannotation. For the provider of the bookmark and search service, such anarrangement helps introduce users to the idea of bookmarks at the momentit matters most: when they are visiting a page they are interested in.It may be advantageous to (e.g., for security reasons) to have partnerswishing to display a “bookmark this page!” link to register with theservice provider first. Registration with the service provider alsohelps the service provider to develop relationships with additionalcontent providers.

A provider of a bookmark service may receive various benefits fromimplementing the service. For example, the provider is able to collectdata concerning users' attribution of value on pages.

One embodiment of the present invention utilizes an anti-spammingmechanism to avoid the problem of companies with a financial interest indriving traffic to their sites attempting to falsify end user interestin their pages. In one embodiment, the search engine 120 addresses thisproblem by not trusting the bookmark signal globally, but leveraging itonly for user personalization. In one embodiment, the bookmark manageremploys credit card validation (for identification only) and/or CAPTCHAs(Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and HumansApart) to gain evidence that bookmark manager 128 is interacting with alegitimate user.

An embodiment of the present invention may provide other features aswell. For example, one embodiment provides collaborative linkrecommendations. When logged in, a user 112 a is provided a link withanchor text, such as “See related bookmarks for users similar to you.”The linked page provides other suggested links that may be of interestto the user 112 a. This feature may be integrated into or separate fromthe main results page.

An embodiment of the present invention may provide useful information tothe provider of the bookmark service. For example, for sites that usersvisit most frequently, client-side bookmarks are often the tools ofchoice. An unfortunate consequence is that those page visits are largelyhidden from the provider of a search service. With bookmarks being usedas a navigational tool according to the present invention, the serviceprovider has access to the previously unavailable data and may be betterequipped to provide user-personalized portals. For example, patternrecognition might let the service provider realize that a user visitvarious stock quotes every Monday morning, checks CNN.com in theafternoons, etc. In such an embodiment, the search engine 120 mayanticipate the pages that users will likely require.

An embodiment of the present invention may also improve the relevance ofadvertisements presented in conjunction with search results. Forexample, one embodiment of the present invention is able to usebookmarks to cluster user interests and leverage click-through data ofvarious advertisements for similar users to present even more relevantadvertisements. In other words, the advertisements are based, at leastin part, on the search results returned based on the bookmarks or otherpersonal search object. This feature provides numerous benefits. Notonly are users more likely to be satisfied because the advertising ismore targeted, but the click-through rate for the service provider mayincrease, resulting in increased revenue.

In one embodiment, a user may share or overlay bookmarks. For example inone embodiment, a user is able to open up their bookmarks for others toview. In another embodiment, a user is able to aggregate other users'bookmarks into their own set of bookmarks (either via copying or via anoverlaid reference semantics). Such a feature may prove useful forcommunity building (e.g., “Add this group's bookmarks to your favorites”when joining a new mailing list). In one such embodiment, the bookmarkindicators in results pages distinguish between those pages explicitlybookmarked by the user from those gathered by others. Given a canonicalURL through which to reference another individual/organization'sbookmarks, the service provider can derive a sense of the popularity ofa person's links and weight those bookmarks correspondingly (a laPageRank applied to the subgraph of bookmark interlinks).

One embodiment of the present invention fosters community andrelationship building. In one embodiment, the search engine is able torecognize clusters or pairs of users having similar interests. Such anembodiment is able to suggest other users with which to network.

An embodiment of the present invention may include various otherfeatures as well. For example, in one embodiment, linger time and/orrepeat visits is used to implicitly bookmark a page. Other implicitmeasures, such as the ones described above, may also be utilized. Withthis feature, a toolbar slider may start inching to the right as youview a given page (and should attempt to alert the user that the changehas occurred, perhaps by flashing). The user explicitly dragging theslider would override the setting (and turn off the implicit ratingimprovement for this visit to the site).

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of implicitly rating a pagein one embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment shown, thebookmark manager 128 receives a URL 402. The bookmark manager 128determines whether or not the URL has been saved as a in the bookmarkdatabase 140 as a bookmark 403. If so, the process ends 414. Otherwise,the bookmark manager 128 determines whether this is a first visit by theuser to the URL 404. If so, the bookmark manager adds the bookmark tothe bookmark database 140 and sets the rating equal to 0.5 408. Theprocess then ends 414. In the embodiment shown, the bookmark manager 120does not identify the URL as a bookmark, but merely adds an entry tomaintain the rating of the site.

If the bookmark has been visited before, the bookmark manager 128 adds0.05 to the value of the rating 406. Once the rating has been set oradjusted, the bookmark manager 128 determines whether the rating isgreater than or equal to 0.7 410. The value 0.7 is a threshold forimplicitly creating a bookmark and may be adjusted in variousembodiments. If the value is greater than or equal to 0.7, the bookmarkmanager 128 marks the URL as a favorite in the bookmark database (140)412. The process then ends 414. If the value is less than 0.7, theprocess ends, and the bookmark is not added to the bookmark database140. Another embodiment of the present invention utilizes linger time inaddition to or instead of page visits for implicitly bookmarking pages.

An embodiment of the present invention may use the ratings, annotations,or any other data in presenting search results. In several of theexamples described above, the data is used to sort or mark searchresults shown to a user 112 a. In one embodiment, the data is used toexclude search results from those shown to the user.

Embodiments of a rating process according to the present invention mayprovide other features as well. For example, one embodiment provides thecapability to search previously stored bookmarks as a completelyseparate search experience rather than integrating the results into thebasic results page. In one such embodiment, the interface on the client102 a presents the user with two checkboxes. By checking the firstcheckbox, the user 112 a specifies that the search engine 120 shouldsearch global indices. By checking the second checkbox, the user 112 aspecifies that the search engine 120 should search the user's bookmarks.The user 112 a is able to vary the search based on the particular typeof search that the user 112 a wishes to perform. In another embodiment,hits due to indexed annotations are presented separately at the top, andhits due to results that were otherwise found are marked in their usualranking position and may also be shown at the top. The links presentedat the top of the result set 134 may not include snippets.

To mitigate privacy concerns, embodiments of the present invention mayrequire users to opt-in to the tracking. In such an embodiment, thesystem alerts the user when personalized search is in effect andprovides a simple mechanism for reverting to generic search. In such anembodiment, bookmark data may be stored in a secure data center separatefrom a user's other personal data.

Various interface designs may be implemented in an embodiment of thepresent invention. For example, in one embodiment, marking of pages ofinterest and non-interest is provided via JavaScript bookmarklets. Onesuch embodiment displays the user-specified ranking (if any) by usurpingthe PageRank display to be user-specific. The color changes when thebookmark rating exceeds the mark threshold (0.7 in FIG. 3 ).

In another embodiment of a user interface according to the presentinvention, the user is provided with a simple user interface for addingan annotation for an arbitrary page, such as via a new menu option inthe toolbar's Info drop-down or via a star button in the browser or atoolbar or a plug-in of the browser. The bookmarked or booknegated pagesin results sets are displayed and the bookmarks and booknegates may beedited directly in the results list.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 , client 102 a transmits query signal130 to the server device 104 executing the search engine 120. In anotherembodiment, the server device 122 executing the bookmark manager 128 mayreceive queries directly. In one such embodiment, seven queries aredefined to retrieve and/or save various pieces of data. In each of thequeries, the user identifier is provided as a primary identifier.

In a first query, a user provides a rating of a page. The rating may bea simple yes/no or up/down rating or may include a rating across ascale. The response may just be the new bookmark rating (for example, asan ASCII-encoded integer). For a query implementing an up/down rating,the rating may be boosted or dropped slightly along a scale. An exampleof a rating query is:

-   -   GET/set-bookmark?rating=NUM&url-URL&annotation=ANNOTATION.

In a second query, information for new pages visited by the user isrequested. Such a query may include a features parameter, which may beextended to explicitly ask for bookmark ratings. The response may besomething like: “Rank_I:1:8.” One example of such a query is:

-   -   GET/search?client=navclient-auto&q=info:URL.

In a third query, a bare bookmark rating is requested for a set ofdocuments. In the query shown, the URLLIST is a list of URLS, separatedby spaces, re-urlencoded, and Doclds is a space-separated list ofdocids, url-encoded. Results for all of these are returned, one perline. One example of such a query is:

-   -   GET/get-bookmarks?urls=URLLIST&docids=DOCIDLIST.

In a fourth query, an annotation for a URL is requested. In oneembodiment, when the URL is not specified, the server returns a list ofURLs that have bookmark annotations in a HTML user interface thatpermits a user to view and edit those annotations. One example of such aquery is

-   -   GET/annotations?url=URL.

A fifth query transmits a list of bookmarks to a server. One example ofa bookmark POST acceptor is as follows:

-   -   POST/set-bookmarks.

In the POST acceptor query, the POST-data may have a Content-Type of“text/html” and be a favorites list represented in HTML, for example, inthe format Microsoft Internet Explorer™ exports.

A sixth query provides a means to get a full bookmark list in XMLformat. One such query is as follows:

-   -   GET/get-bookmarks.xml.

A seventh query provides a means for searching an annotation andreturning URLs or Docids that match the query terms provided in thequery. One such query is as follows:

-   -   GET/search-annotations?q=QUERYTERMS.

Embodiments of the present invention provide numerous advantages to theuser and to the provider of the search service. An embodiment of thepresent invention improves the user experience by providing personalizedsearch results and rankings.

An embodiment of the present invention provides advantages to theprovider of a search service by (1) increasing the stickiness of thesearch experience by giving users a compelling reason to identifythemselves and share their interest in topics with the provider, and (2)gathering better data regarding the relevancy of pages to differentusers and different classes of users.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the user providing bookmarksto the service provider enables the search provider to personalize thesearch for them. The feature can be viewed as a server-sidegeneralization of bookmarks integrated with annotations. Users are ableto share that personalization data across different browsers (e.g., workand home) if desired and hence eliminate the drudgery associated withmanaging bookmarks. An embodiment of the present invention also unifiesall navigational queries under a single experience.

The foregoing description of the preferred embodiments of the inventionhas been presented only for the purpose of illustration and descriptionand is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to theprecise forms disclosed. Numerous modifications and adaptations thereofwill be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from thespirit and scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method performed by atleast one processor, the computer implemented method comprising:identifying a user; receiving user input from the user through aninterface of a client device, the user input indicating a modificationto a set of favorite items for the user; in response to receiving theuser input: modifying the set of favorite items at the client device,the modification to the set of favorite items at the client deviceinitiating a synchronization process to synchronize the set of favoriteitems modified responsive to the user input with a server-side storagesystem configured to synchronize favorite items for the user with one ormore other client devices, the server-side storage system remote fromthe client-side storage; presenting through a single interface of theclient device, in response to a query, a combined search results setgenerated via one or more search sub-processes, the combined searchresults set comprising one or more favorite items from the set offavorite items synchronized for the user and comprising at least one of:one or more search results from a first global index, or one or moresearch results from a second global index.
 2. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the client device comprises at least one of adigital assistant, a smart phone, a digital tablet, a laptop computer,or an Internet appliance.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,wherein the set of favorite items comprises an identifier to a resource.4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the set offavorite items comprises an identifier to an audio file.
 5. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the set of favoriteitems comprises an identifier to an audio file that is accessible via anetwork.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the userinput indicating the modification to the set of favorite items for theuser comprises an indication to create a favorite item to add to the setof favorite items for the user, the computer-implemented methodcomprising: adding the favorite item to the set of favorite items at theclient device; and adding the favorite item to the set of favorite itemsin the server-side storage system.
 7. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, comprising: adding a favorite item to the set of favorite itemson the one or more other client devices.
 8. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the user input indicating the modification tothe set of favorite items for the user comprises an indication to deletea favorite item from the set of favorite items for the user.
 9. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, comprising: deleting a favoriteitem from the set of favorite items at the client device; deleting thefavorite item from the set of favorite items in the server-side storagesystem; and deleting the favorite item from the set of favorite itemsstored on the one or more other client devices.
 10. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, comprising: storing the set offavorite items in a bookmark file on at least one of the client device,the server-side storage system, or a second client device of the one ormore other client devices.
 11. The computer-implemented method of claim1, wherein the interface of the client device through which the clientdevice receives the user input comprises a built-in interface of aclient-side application.
 12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,wherein the interface of the client device comprises a pop-up window.13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, comprising: providing,by an application, via the client device, the interface through whichthe user provides the user input.
 14. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 13, wherein the application comprises at least one of a manager,HTML-based application, JavaScript-based application, an ActiveXcomponent, a Java applet, or a C++ program.
 15. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the client device is associated with a validuser identifier and the one or more other client devices are associatedwith the valid user identifier.
 16. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, comprising: authenticating, via a user identifier, the clientdevice for synchronization of the set of favorite items; authenticating,via the user identifier, the one or more other client devices forsynchronization of the set of favorite items; and subsequent toauthenticating the one or more other client devices for synchronizationof the set of favorite items, synchronizing the set of favorite itemsamong the one or more other client devices.
 17. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the combined search results set includesboth: the one or more search results from the first global index and theone or more search results from the second global index.
 18. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the set of favoriteitems is stored for the user in a client-side storage of the clientdevice.
 19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein theclient-side storage of the client device is a non-transitory storage.20. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the client-sidestorage of the client device excludes transitory storage.
 21. A systemto synchronize bookmarks among devices, comprising: a first clientdevice comprising one or more processors and memory, the first clientdevice comprising a first application program stored in the memory ofthe first client device and executed by the first client device; and asecond client device comprising one or more processors and memory, thesecond client device comprising a second application program stored inthe memory of the second client device and executed by the second clientdevice, wherein the first application program of the first client deviceis configured to: authenticate with a server for synchronizing with aset of bookmarks stored in a server-side storage of the server; receivean input via an interface of the first client device, the inputcomprising an instruction to the first client device to modify a set ofbookmarks at the first client device, the first client device remotefrom the server-side storage; and transmit, from the first client deviceand to the server, an indication to modify the set of bookmarks storedin the server-side storage, and wherein the second application programof the second client device is configured to: authenticate with theserver for synchronizing with the set of bookmarks stored in theserver-side storage of the server; receive, at the second client deviceand from the server, an indication to modify a set of bookmarks at thesecond client device, the second client device remote from theserver-side storage; modify, responsive to the indication to modify theset of bookmarks received from the server, the set of bookmarks at thesecond client device; and present through a single interface of thesecond client device, in response to a query, a combined search resultsset generated via one or more search sub-processes, the combined searchresults set comprising one or more favorite items from the set ofbookmarks synchronized for the user and comprising at least one of: oneor more search results from a first global index, or one or more searchresults from a second global index.
 22. The system of claim 21, whereinthe set of bookmarks stored in the server-side storage of the servercomprises one or more favorite items, wherein the set of bookmarks atthe first client device comprises the one or more favorite items, andwherein the set of bookmarks at the second client device comprises theone or more favorite items.
 23. The system of claim 21, wherein the setof bookmarks stored in the server-side storage of the server comprisesone or more identifiers of one or more audio files, wherein the set ofbookmarks at the first client device comprises the one or moreidentifiers of the one or more audio files, and wherein the set ofbookmarks at the second client device comprises the one or moreidentifiers of the one or more audio files.
 24. The system of claim 23,wherein the second client device is further configured to: display, viaan interface of the second client device, an indication of modificationof bookmark information for at least one of the one or more audio filesidentified by the set of bookmarks at the second client device.